It is known that the wheels of road vehicles require frequent balancing operations which consist in fitting to the rim of the wheel small weights, made of lead or other material, suitable for offsetting the irregular distribution of the tyre weights.
To perform such operation, balancing machines are commonly used having a rotating spindle, so-called “balancing spindle”, on which the wheel to be balanced must be positioned integral, one or more parts for centering and fastening the wheel on the balancing spindle, and electronic means suitable for reading the wheel unbalance when the wheel is made to rotate by the balancing spindle.
For safety reasons, furthermore, the balancing machines are usually equipped with a wheel protection guard designed to cover the wheel when this is mounted on the balancing spindle.
Such guard, in point of fact, is a device that protects the operator from the risk of accidents due to the wheel being made to rotate, or from injuries caused by the quick and sudden ejection of the balancing weights, unless these are correctly bound to their seat, or simply by the expelling of small foreign bodies, such as stones wedged in the tyre tread.
The balancing spindle is arranged horizontally at a preset distance from the ground and the wheel is normally fitted on it manually by an operator in charge of machine operation who lifts the wheel up by hand and positions it coaxially on the balancing spindle.
Such manual operations are often uncomfortable and tiring for the operator, above all in the case in which the wheel to be balanced is considerably heavy and large.
To make the operator's task easier, the use is known of numerous types of lifting equipment of different shapes and dimensions and with differing operating procedures but which all have in common the fact of allowing the operator to lift and lower the wheel without effort, while at the same time favouring the correct centring of the wheel on the balancing spindle by means of the centring parts.
The lifting mechanisms are usually fitted close to the actual balancing machine and, usually, consist of an elevating platform, on which the wheel can be positioned resting, or of a small winch, by means of which the wheel is raised up to the height of the balancing spindle.
Balancing machines of the traditional type are susceptible to further upgrading aimed at increasing functionality and use efficiency.
Unfortunately, in fact, the presence of various auxiliary devices mounted on or near the tyre changing machines, such as, e.g., the protection guard and the lifting equipment, makes these machines fairly large in size and heavy.
Such inconvenience is particularly significant above all in consideration of the fact that, other factors being equal, the greater overall dimensions of a wheel balancing machine determine the consequent reduction of the operator's room to move, with the risk of his, or other persons near the machine, coming into contact with the moving parts of the machine itself and suffering hazardous accidents.